Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Visits Beach Where Victim Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have been taken to the remote beach where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with minimal chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The court has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who testified last week.
The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, prior to her remains were discovered.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.